Tobacco or non-tobacco smokeless products for oral use comprise finely divided, particulate, such as ground, or cut, tobacco or non-tobacco material or a combination thereof that is not intended for combustion but designed to be placed in the oral cavity of a user for a period of time. There are many various forms of smokeless products for oral use, such forms include tobacco and non-tobacco snuff.
Tobacco snuff is available as dry snuff for oral or nasal use and moist (or wet) snuff for use in the oral cavity by placing between the lip and gum. There are two types of moist snuff, the American and the Scandinavian type. American-type moist snuff is available in a loose form or as pre-packed pouches and is typically used between the lower gum and lip. The use of American-type moist snuff is commonly called dipping. Snus is the Scandinavian-type of moist snuff that is available in loose form or is portion packed in pouches and is typically used between the upper gum and lip. Non-tobacco snus for oral use is also commonly portion packed in pouches and placed between the upper gum and lip.
Tobacco or non-tobacco moist snuff may be provided in different forms of portion packets, such as in pouches. Manufacturing of such portion packets generally involve the steps of (pre)treating and processing of the tobacco or non-tobacco material; forming portion-sized packets of the bulk material; optionally wrapping a packaging material around the portion packets; and placing the portion packets in a container.
The production rate of moist snuff for oral use in portion packets is very high; typically several hundreds of portion packets per minute. There are a number of requirements concerning packing of portion packets in a container that are important to the end user and also for obtaining an efficient packing. For example, the portion packets may be positioned in a certain pattern in a container to confer an attractive appearance to the user and at the same time obtain an optimum use of the space in the container.
Thus, there is still a need of improved packing techniques of portion packets of a tobacco or non-tobacco moist snuff in a container in order to comply with the demands posed from the end users as well as from the manufacturing perspective.